Subnautica: Voyage of Despair
by Subnautical
Summary: A prequel detailing the events of the Degasi survivors' struggle to survive. This story will follow the lore of the game very closely, and hopefully will shed some light on what I believe may have happened during their time on Planet 4546B. The narrative fills in the gaps between the data downloads in the game. If all goes well, it will lead into a reboot of my original story.
1. Catastrophe

A massive shudder of the ship woke Paul from his sleep, something he was all too familiar with, but would never get used to. Paul couldn't fall back asleep after the initial turbulence jolted him awake, so he instead headed to the bridge to find out more about the planet they were planning to explore.

The database called it "Planet 4546B", and said that it was over 90% covered in water. It was a similar size to earth, but a bit bigger. The planet had two satellites, one moon slightly bigger than earth's, and another moon that was a lot smaller but much closer. Because of these orbiting satellites, the gravitational pull of the planet was offset by the pull of the moons, giving the planet a gravitational pull similar to Earth's, perhaps even a bit weaker despite its size.

Despite this, the turbulence the crew had felt earlier indicated that its gravitational pull was nothing to scoff at, so they had to be on alert in case anything went wrong. "Marcus, what are the scanners picking up from the planet's surface?" Bart asked the man at the scanning terminal. No response. Before he could ask again, he heard a muffled snoring noise from his station. "MARCUS! Are you really asleep at your terminal?!" Bart yelled, doing his best to wake him up as quickly as possible. In a panic, Marcus fell out of his chair and hit his head on the floor as he attempted to make it seem as though he was awake the whole time. "Marcus, you can't be falling asleep on us! I suggested you to my father because we've been friends since grade school, but you can't take that for granted and slack off!"

"Slack off? I wouldn't be 'slacking off' if I got any time to rest!" Marcus complained. "I know I signed up to work the scanners, but I can't stay awake 24/7 like this. I need sleep or I won't be able to do my bloody job even if I try!"

"With our tech, father says—" Bart started. "Screw that smarmy git! He treats us regular crew like shit and doesn't give us any breaks at all. He overworks us, underpays us, and doesn't give us any amount of respect! I've just about had it with our so-called 'Captain'! Now put that Margeurit chick in charge, and it'd be a different story. At least she understands our situation and treats us normally."

Bart was stunned and a bit appalled at Marcus' outburst concerning his father, and wondered if all of the crew felt the same way. If that was the case, a mutiny wasn't out of the question. For now, it would have to wait. The final approach towards Planet 4546B was about to start.

"I'll talk to him— for real." Bart promised. "Right now, we need you to run the sensors while we land." Marcus thought about it for a moment and reluctantly returned to his terminal, bringing it out of standby, only to find that a serious alert was in progress.

"Oh shit— massive energy reading spotted in the planet's surface!" Marcus shouted, his voice a bit worried. "What's the source?" Margeurit asked calmly. "No idea, the bloody thing is just a highly condensed energy mass growing in intensity, but somehow not in size."

"Keep us all updated, Marcus!" Bart said. "Father, what do you make of the energy signature we're picking up? Is it a weapon? A natural weather effect?"

"Considering that it's growing in intensity while staying the same size, it's easy to say it's not natural, which leads me to believe it's either an incredibly powerful experiment by an unknown party that secretly made it to this planet before us, or a device created by another civilization." Paul surmised. "If it's the latter of the two, then these energy readings mean it's probably the most powerful anyone has ever seen. It might even be able to hit us at this range if it's a weapon. But we're too close to retreat into orbit. We can only hope that we can dodge it or it misses, and that the immense energy requirement means it won't be able to fire again before we land."

"Attention Degasi crew: prepare for possible impact as we descend. Be ready to evacuate if necessary." Bart called over the loudspeakers throughout the ship. "Put on your hazard suits, we're not sure if the environment down there is 100% safe for humans at the moment."

"Bart, the energy mass has stopped charging, it's holding steady now! Wait, look at that, it's heading towards us, brace for—" Marcus was cut short as a massive beam of ionic energy tore through the hull of the Degasi like it was wet tissue paper, causing the metal to screech and twist as it was ripped through by the brilliant beam of light that obliterated whatever it touched. It must have only been about 5 seconds of sustained fire, but for Bart, it felt like an eternity of terror.

The beam hit the wall near Marcus' terminal first, and he was sucked towards the fresh hole in the wall, only to be incinerated instantly when the pillar of energy hit him on his way out. Even after it was over, the ship began to tear itself in half as the back end was ripped loose from the fuselage and went tumbling into a mountainous island on its way down. The resulting explosion meant there were no survivors, as it completely engulfed the entire wreck, having been where all of the Degasi's fuel was stored. The fuselage, now in free fall as it avoided the mountain the aft section crashed into, was headed straight for a part of the ocean that had an island nearby, but the remaining crew wasn't too concerned with what was near the predicted landing zone, but instead was trying not to be sucked out of the ship as it continued its final descent.

Margeurit, thinking fast, unhooked a nearby cargo net and struggled to attach it in the doorway between the bridge and the area where the breach was, hooking it into some nearby handles to create a safety net. Paul wasn't able to hang on to his command terminal, but was caught by the net, effectively saving his life. Bart was still in the back of the fuselage, strapped in with his seatbelt, hanging on for dear life as the intense wind threatened to rip him from his seat and into the murky ocean below, and he quickly fumbled with his helmet as he prepared for the watery landing that awaited the survivors in a few seconds. Just as soon as his suit was sealed, the entire fuselage slammed into the ocean nose-first, and the massive whiplash caused by the sudden stop rendered Paul unconscious and knocked the wind out of Bart entirely. "The Degasi has landed, gentlemen." Margeurit chimed. "Welcome to Plant 4546B."


	2. Struggle

Paul heard the sound of water pouring into the ship as he came to, his head pounding as the whiplash from the impact had been so bad he felt like his brain had been pulled apart and rearranged on the spot.

The fuselage was slowly filling with water, and he was still strapped into his seat. He knew he'd have to get out quickly, but as he tried to move and undo his harness, he felt an intense pain in his side, like something was inside him stabbing at one of his organs. As Paul began to regain feeling in the rest of his body, the pain became incredibly overwhelming, and he realized at least one of his ribs was completely broken, and was poking around in his torso freely.

At first, his breathing quickened as he started panicking, but Paul forced himself to control his breathing, knowing that if he breathed too deeply or too quickly, the rib could puncture one of his lungs. Fighting through the pain, he undid his seatbelt and pain wracked his entire body as he struggled to find his footing on his terminal, which was now in a position he could use to stand on.

As the fuselage continued sinking vertically, more and more water started leaking in, and with the back of the fuselage being a mangled mess of sharp metal where the aft section had torn itself apart, it was too dangerous to swim straight up and out once the entire thing was submerged. One cut and he could be infected by an unknown amount of foreign bacteria from a planet that no one has ever set foot on before. His already weakened body wouldn't stand a chance against them. He had to find another way to get out before the entire fuselage was underwater.

High above him, Paul saw the hole that the energy beam had torn through the ship's hull, and it had been a clean cut, meaning the metal around it wasn't sharp. The problem was that by the time the water was high enough for Paul to reach the hull breach, the fuselage would be sinking very fast, and if it wasn't fully flooded yet, escaping through one of the biggest holes in the hull would be impossible, as the water pouring in would force him back until the water level was even.

He needed to find another way to increase the water level, but at the same time, he didn't know where Margeurit or Paul were. He didn't see them below him, so he took an educated guess and assumed they had already escaped somehow. He could search the water below for an escape route, but if the one the other two had used had been blocked after they left, Paul would be in big trouble.

Carefully, Paul peered over the edge of his terminal, trying to find the airlock release button in order to create another intentional breach to raise the water level more quickly. Since the terminal still had power to it thanks to the backup power cell kept in the bridge area, it could still operate most of the undamaged modules located in the fuselage. If he waited until the entire fuselage flooded naturally, the terminal would get damaged. Even if it still worked by then, he might be too far underwater to make it to the surface with the limited air supply built into the suit, not to mention his hampered breathing due to his broken rib and the danger it posed if he were to breath efficiently.

Despite looking at the terminal from a new perspective, Paul located the airlock release button in no time, and as the double doors opened, the water rushing into the ship became noticeably louder, meaning the water level was rising significantly faster than before. Soon, he felt the ripples of the water creeping over the terminal's edge, and Paul knew he'd have to swim for his life very soon.


	3. Escape

A few moments later, Paul was able to swim in the water that was rising, and the hull breach was approaching him fast. As he prepared to make his grand escape, a wrench was thrown into his plan when a massive this rocked the fuselage. It had hit the ocean floor, and was now tipping.

The entire fuselage flooded all at once as the impact created massive cracks in the hull, metal screaming and contorting into misshapen, jagged scrap. The entire orientation of the fuselage began shifting as it slowly tilted back to its original horizontal position, and Paul was tossed around due to the sudden surge of water, struggling to keep himself from vomiting, while also trying to keep track of where he was being thrown in relation to the main hull breach.

Unfortunately, Paul's chair had been torn off of its swivel, and was heading straight towards him. In the enclosed fuselage, there wasn't a lot of room for Paul to dodge an erratically-moving rogue chair, but he noticed there were some pipes near him, and grabbed a large wrench he saw nearby, slamming it into the pipe with all his might. The air practically exploded out of the pipe, being under excessive water pressure, and it was so powerful that it knocked the wrench from Paul's hand instantly, but also blew the chair off-course, probably saving his life.

Paul continued swimming towards the hull breach, but as he did so, another impact took place, and the fuselage, which had been returning to its original position it was intended to be used in, began to roll over, meaning the breach would be impossible to get through if Paul didn't hurry. The fuselage must've hit an underwater hill as it tipped over, and that meant it was most likely on a slope, one that the fuselage would keep rolling down once it rolled into position on the hill. If that happened, Paul would have to wait until the entire thing had stopped rolling, and if it crashed into something at high speed, he would be crushed by the sheer impact it created. He took the risk and made full use of his arms and lungs, knowing that if he didn't escape the fuselage, a punctured lung would be the least of his problems.

The pain in his side was so unbearable that Paul was amazed that he was even still conscious, but the sheer adrenaline boost alone was keeping him from passing out, as well as dulling the pain somewhat. He felt the rib poking him in one of his lungs, but continued at full speed regardless. Throwing caution to the wind, Paul used what was left of his strength to launch himself off of any solid surface he could find, heading straight for the breach, and at least, he made it, catching onto the edge as it spun by him, and hung on for dear life as he managed to pull himself through it just before it was face-down against the ocean floor. Paul began floating upwards, and weakly swam in the general direction he knew was up, and by the time he could see the surface, he was passing out. The last thing he saw was a bright light coming up from the depths behind him, where he had just narrowly escaped with his life, and then there was nothing but darkness as his consciousness faded.


End file.
